


Her Heart Was A Secret Garden (the walls were very high)

by Draco_sollicitus



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Damerey Daily, Day 18, Evil Prince Kylo, F/M, Princess Bride AU, Romance, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:35:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22311871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus
Summary: Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Revenge. Giants. Monsters. Chases. Escapes. True love. Miracles.In a little town in Coruscant, Rey and Poe find true love. But, the galaxy has other ideas and cruelly separates them, seemingly through death.Years later, the horrid Prince Kylo comes to Rey's village seeking a bride, and she is forced to say yes to his offer; but, she takes a vow of silence to protect what's left of her heart. After a failed kidnapping attempt ends with her rescue - by none other than the dread pirate who murdered her true love - Rey speaks for the first time in months, if only to curse the man who stole her future from her.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Rey
Comments: 12
Kudos: 93
Collections: Damerey Daily 2020





	Her Heart Was A Secret Garden (the walls were very high)

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by the Damerey Daily prompt _silence is a protective coating over pain_ which made me think of the Princess Bride Quote "You mock my pain"/"Life is pain your highness" 
> 
> So, here's a SW/Princess Bride crossover!
> 
>  **warnings** for:
> 
> Cruel, awful Kylo  
> Murder  
> Death  
> Hints of abuse/threats against Rey by Kylo Ren

In the kingdom of Coruscant, there lived a beautiful young woman - some might say the most beautiful young woman who’d ever lived - and her loving grandfather. While he was her mother’s father, she shared his last name, and Rey Kenobi lived in relative peace and tranquility for the first eighteen years of her life.

A handsome young man from the neighboring kingdom of Yavin came to live with them for some time, and he worked on their farm tirelessly, for he was strong, sturdy, and steadfast, and her grandfather was getting on in years. The new farmhand’s name was Poe Dameron, and his existence on the farm caused many hearts in the nearby village to flutter.

Rey loved two things in the world, other than her grandfather: riding her horse, Dio, who was shy and skittish with all but herself; and tormenting the farmhand who’d come to live with them.

It would have been different if he’d argued with her, or even been difficult with her - but Poe was always patient, and always kind, and his quiet, steadfast ways inflamed Rey in ways she didn’t understand. So, she set about increasingly impossible tasks for him to achieve.

“Farmboy,” she called out, extending a pitcher towards him as she advanced to where he was tending to the sheep. “I need water, from the spring near the village.” 

Rey waited for him to tell her there were at least six perfectly clean springs on the way to the village.

“As you wish,” he said softly, taking the pitcher from her and patting a sheep on the head as he walked towards the road. She scowled after him, and ignored the round, fat sheep who were now butting at her legs demanding similar affection.

“Farmboy,” she called out to him a week later as he took his rest in the shade, “I need you to polish Dio’s saddle so that I can see my face in it tomorrow morning.”

Poe stood and nodded at her, his eyes lingering on her face as he passed her. “As you wish.”

He stood near the pasture the next day and watched her ride Dio bareback; she saw his smile from her perch, and spurred Dio faster so he couldn’t see the smile that spread involuntarily across her own face in answer. 

She approached him almost every day after that, always with an inane task that she struggled to find more with each passing day. Three weeks after he’d polished Dio’s saddle, she thought of an even better way to try and frustrate him the way he frustrated her. “Farmboy.” Poe looked up from where he was moving sacks of flour to the storehouse. 

Rey noticed that his eyes were a pleasant shade of brown; the sun caught on his curls, and he studied her face in a way that made her blush.

“Yes, Rey?” Poe prompted in that soft, stirring way of his, and Rey cleared her throat and cast about for what she wanted to say. 

“I-” She blinked and looked down the road. “I need someone to accompany me to the village.” She’d actually walked up to him with the intention of having him find the fattest chicken and bring it to her for butchering, but … suddenly she didn’t think she wanted to have him running about all afternoon on some silly errand. “Walk with me?”

“As you wish.” Poe dusted his hands off on his pants, grabbed his hat, and walked at her side down the road.

Rey didn’t see her grandfather watching from the doorway, or she would have seen him smile.

“It’s so beautiful,” Rey breathed, watching the sun catch on a glass chime in the marketplace. Poe stopped when she did, and she felt his eyes on her face as she studied the pretty ornament, but she felt no hurry to move on. “I wish I could look at it every day.”

“As you wish,” Poe said, pulling some coins from his pocket and trading it with the artist in stall.

“No,” Rey protested, grabbing his arm as he made the exchange. “Poe, I couldn’t - that’s your money, and I-” 

_ I’ve been so cruel to you,  _ she wanted to say, but Poe looked at her and held out the pretty little glass chime with a devastating smile, and she found that her breath was quite stolen by his beauty. 

“Thank you,” she whispered instead, and Poe nodded at her. They walked through the rest of the market so Rey could buy the shoe she needed for Dio, and she and Poe talked quietly about nothing of any significance, but she couldn’t help but feel that it was the most important conversation of her life.

“Have a good night … farmboy,” Rey said at the gate as Poe continued walking down the path to where his quarters were housed.

“As you wish,” he said, and it sounded almost teasing that time.

Rey’s face heated as she watched him walk away; she clutched the little ornament to her chest, the one he’d bought for her without hesitation. He’d bought if for her even though he didn’t have much money, only the wages her grandfather could spare, and now she knew he sent most of his money home to his father, who was sick and still tending to their own farm.

That was the day Rey realized that when Poe said  _ As you wish,  _ he was really saying  _ I love you,  _ and she found herself crying as she fell asleep although she didn’t know why.

She would discover why in only a week’s time: there was a storm that swept through the countryside and scared the horses with cracks of lightning and monstrous winds. Poe, Rey, and even her grandfather worked to get the animals into shelter, but Dio was most startled of all and couldn’t be calm.

Rey ran through the torrents of rain to her horse, but Poe got there first - her breath caught in her throat when Dio kicked Poe in the chest, scared of its wits, and Poe fell backwards in the mud.

“No!” She screamed, running faster now, slipping in the puddles. Her grandfather grabbed the rope Poe had managed to secure around Dio’s neck and dragged the horse towards the farm; thankfully, it went more peacefully this time, but Rey’s entire world focused on the very still farmboy lying in the mud.

“Poe,” she sobbed, petting his face and gathering his head to rest in her lap. “Oh, God, Poe, please be alive-”

He took a ragged breath, and Rey’s head drooped as she cried and put her hand to his chest where his heart beat miraculously. His shirt had slipped in the commotion and she could see the beginnings of a frightful bruise.

“You aren’t allowed to die, Poe Dameron,” Rey said sharply to hide how powerful her relief was.

Poe’s brown eyes fluttered open and he offered her a half-smile that made her own chest seize painfully. “As...you...wish,” he murmured before his eyes slipped shut again. Rey laughed, but really cried, and with her grandfather’s help, got Poe inside where they propped him up in their spare bed with as many pillows as they could find.

Rey sat by his bed all night, watching the bruise darken on his chest, and she whispered to him how sorry she was to have been so frightfully bossy with him, how sorry she was that it was her horse that almost killed him, how sorry she was for everything.

She laid her head on the bedside as the sun was rising, bright red and only lingering shadows of clouds on the horizon to hint at the storm that had happened the night before; Rey closed her eyes and let one more tear slip out.

Something warm brushed it away. Rey’s eyes opened at once and saw that Poe was smiling at her, looking exhausted but strangely content, and his thumb was brushing the tear away from her cheek. 

“I thought you had died,” Rey whispered, and Poe shook his head.

“Don’t cry for me,” he said gently. “Never cry for me. And - I would never leave you, Rey. You know that.”

She nodded and grabbed his hand to press a kiss to his palm, and she realized that as much as Poe meant  _ I love you  _ with every  _ as you wish,  _ she felt that same love for him, and it was the most powerful feeling she’d ever had.

Their first kiss was outside the front door of the little house; Poe stood on his own for the first time in weeks, and in celebration, Rey had asked for a kiss, near delirious with the happiness of seeing him look more himself.

“As you wish,” Poe teased, his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her close to his body. It was as passionate as it was loving, as heated as it was sweet, and Rey wanted to live and die in that kiss.

After months of stolen kisses, each one as powerful and life-changing as the first, Poe announced his intention to sail across the Chandrila sea in search for employment that would afford him enough money to make a proper offer to Rey.

“I don’t need money,” she insisted, holding his hand tightly the morning of his departure. She had said much the same thing for weeks now - and her grandfather as well. “We have the farm, and - and we have the horses, and we have each other. Don’t go,”  _ where I can’t follow  _ went unsaid.

“I want to do this,” Poe said, as gentle and firm and steadfast as ever. He kissed her hands gently, and Rey closed her eyes, wanting to shout but knowing he was as stubborn as she was. “I’ll be back within a year, I swear to you. How could I live without my sunshine?”

“And what if something terrible happens?” Rey asked, a hint of anger leaking through to her voice. After all, something terrible had happened to her own parents - Poe knew of her lingering grief and fear from that incident nearly thirteen years ago.

“Hear this now: I will come back for you,” Poe murmured, and Rey leaned into the promise. 

He was steadfast, loyal, and true - she believed him. Still, she had to ask, if only because of the confidence in his promise.

“How can you be so sure?”

“This is true love.” Poe brushed a kiss over their linked hands as the sun rose over the distant hills. “Do you think this happens every day?”

He kissed her a dozen more times before he shouldered his bag and walked down the path towards the village, where he would catch a cart to take him to the sea. Rey stood and watched him leave, her heart aching with the knowledge that she might not see him, or even have news of him, for a year.

But, she should have known better. The universe gave her news of her farmboy within five months.

His boat was boarded by the Dread Pirate Solo, and all the crew and all the passengers were slaughtered by the cruel man and his marauders.

Rey locked herself in her room and didn’t eat or sleep for four days.

When she emerged, it was as though she were a different person. She only talked to her grandfather, and even then, her responses were quiet and dispirited. The months passed and turned into years and her beauty only grew - men in nearby villages and faraway villages wished to take her as a bride, but Rey refused any offer.

For she had sworn to herself when she heard that her farmboy, her Poe, was at the bottom of the ocean that she would never love again. 

And Rey Kenobi kept her promises.

* * *

Three years after the Dread Pirate ruined the chances of a perfect example of true love, the previous king of Coruscant died under suspicious circumstances, and his heir, Prince Kylo of the house of Ren was to ascend to power.

But first, he needed to secure his claim through a wedding.

After he was told he might wish to find his bride among the commoners, he recalled that he had heard tales of a beautiful young woman in a small village in the countryside of his kingdom. When he heard her last name, he was doubly intrigued, for she was the daughter of a woman who was born a commoner - and the daughter of a man who was born a prince.

So it was that Kylo Ren rode out to this village to meet the young woman whose good heart and inner strength translated to the most captivating beauty in all the land, and whose hidden last name - the last name of her father - happened to be  _ Palpatine,  _ a past despotic ruler of Coruscant. 

And when Ren laid eyes on her, his suspicions were confirmed - not only was she the most beautiful creature he’d ever beheld, she possessed a sort of power, as well as key features of the house of Palpatine. So he made her his offer, expecting immediate compliance.

And she refused.

So, Ren did a horrible, awful thing that made her weep for the first time in three years. And it was then that he received the desired acceptance of his very generous offer to make her a queen.

He whisked Rey Kenobi-Palpatine to the capitol and began preparations for an incredible wedding feast at the end of summer, showing his gorgeous bride off to all the peasants, commoners, and nobles of the land. The country fell in love with her - for all who saw her loved her, except Ren whose heart was too twisted by greed and cruelty to truly love anyone - and Ren moved forward with his plot to secure what he truly wanted:

War.

* * *

Rey Kenobi had not spoken a word allowed since she consented to Ren’s offer of marriage three months ago.

When she rode a borrowed horse through the forest - Dio was still on the farm, hundreds of miles away - glad to be free of the castle (having snuck out to avoid any of the bossy bodyguards Ren insisted upon), she happened upon three travelers who turned out to be kidnappers.

And she did not even speak to them.

They dragged her across the water - a young swordswoman named Rose Tico, who seemed more interested in getting revenge against the six-fingered man who had killed her sister; a large man named Chewbacca who only Rose seemed to understand, and a nasty man named Dee-Jay who was constantly talking about how clever he was - and to the cliffs of the neighboring country of Ileenium. 

Soon, they were set upon by a man in black, who pursued them, even besting Rose in a swordfight and then Chewbacca in a wrestling match, as Dee-Jay forced Rey to keep moving through the country. And when Dee-Jay demanded to know who it was, Rey didn’t answer him, even when he slapped her painfully, hard enough that she fell to the ground.

The man in black seemed to advance more quickly after that, and then he blindfolded her at the top of a bluff and made her sit and listen to him and the man politely debate the topic of poison and cleverness.

The man in black had a pleasant, softly rough voice that Rey found herself listening to with the most interest she’d had in anything in … years, if she was being honest. But she let her mind drift, away to where she was safe, waiting for one of them to kill her so she could be free.

But, it was Dee-Jay who fell, and the man in black removed her blindfold. She stared up at him in shock and spoke for the first time in months.

“Who are you?’

His eyes, brown and strangely familiar, stared at her from behind his mask. “Someone who shouldn’t be trifled with.” He grabbed her arm and hauled her upright, cutting her bonds with a long, deadly knife. “Come now.” 

Rey’s feet stumbled at first, but the man didn’t release her forearm. They ran for what seemed like hours, and he eventually let her go so she could sit on a rock and catch her breath. She scowled up at him and rubbed her arm reproachfully.

“I wonder how far off your beloved fiance is.” He stared into the distance, and Rey stared down the ravine, the edge of which they’d stopped at. 

“Probably not far at all,” Rey said idly, still rubbing her arm. Her feet ached, and her head throbbed, but her chest felt oddly tight, the way it hadn’t in years, as numb as she’d become to most of life’s agony. 

“I’m sure you would like to be reunited with the man you love.” The man in black spoke coldly and stared down at her.

“You know nothing,” Rey spat, glaring up at him despite the harshness of the sun behind him. “I do not love that man.”

The man snorted and shook his head, and Rey felt herself stirred to anger - anger she would  _ act  _ on, for the first time in a very long time. She rose to her feet, ignoring the tension in her muscles and glowered at the man, who wasn’t much taller than she was. There was murder in her heart, and rage too, and it pushed her to speak again.

“I’ve figured out who you are,” she said, voice quaking. Even if she were wrong - how wonderful it would be to still direct her ire, her  _ hatred,  _ onto this awful man. “You’re the Dread Pirate Solo.”

“What makes you say this?” He asked, tilting his head to look at her, looking away from the road in the distance. 

“Your cruelty,” she snapped, “the ease with which you take another person’s life. Your disdain towards the feelings of others.”

“At your service.” He bowed with an ironic flourish and then smirked at her. “You speak as though you know me. Have we met before?”

“No.” Rey’s voice still shook, and her hands too. “Or you would be dead.”

“Oh?” He quirked an eyebrow, and Rey’s anger surged even more. 

“You killed the man I love.” Her voice broke on  _ killed _ , but she held her chin high. “Murdered him.”

“I might have.” The man shrugged. “I’ve killed many. Would there be anything about him that might have made him stand out?”

“He was the best man who ever lived,” Rey said vehemently, “excepting my grandfather, and you killed him three years ago on a boat that was crossing the Chandrila Sea. He was kind, and good, and I loved him more than all of the stars in the sky, and - and you  _ killed  _ him.”

“The farmboy?” He tilted his head the other way, something strange playing at what she could see of his expression. “Dark hair, scar on his chest?”

“Yes.” Rey blinked back tears and set her jaw stubbornly. 

“I remember him,” the Dread Pirate consented with a nod before returning his gaze to the horizon. “He spoke so convincingly. He said,  _ please, please don’t kill me. There’s a girl at home, and it’s true love. I have to come home to her.  _ It really did almost make me feel something for him.”

“You are a monster,” Rey said, shaking with fury.

“Maybe.” The Pirate stared at her again. “But are you any better? You do not love your fiance - or you’re lying, and you do love him, even though that sad, little farmboy on the boat was convinced you loved him so truly-”

“Ren knows I do not love him,” Rey muttered, shaking her head, a cold feeling in her stomach.

“More like, he knows you aren’t capable of love-”

Incensed, Rey drew herself up and stared at him. “I have loved more truly than a killer like you could ever  _ begin  _ to understand-”

He held a hand up to her, and even though he only was lifting his finger to point at her - not a fist nor an open hand - Rey didn’t realize it in time and flinched horribly, expecting a strike; she covered her face and made herself small.

Three months of living near Ren had made her skittish. She glanced up behind her hand and saw that the pirate had retracted his hand and was looking at her differently.

“You think I would hit a woman?” He asked, his voice strangely soft. Pained, even.

“You said yourself, you’re a killer,” Rey spoke sharply to hide her terror and grief. “And I know how easily a man can hit a woman, anyone he feels he has some power over.” 

His face twisted behind the mask. “I would not hurt a woman.”

“Don’t be a fool.” Rey lifted her chin, a queenly gesture she was supposed to be practicing to please her fiance, but found it came oddly natural to her. “You’ve hurt me already in ways you’ll never understand.”

“Yes, yes, the farmboy.” The pirate still spoke softly. “If you loved him so, why are you marrying this prince?”

“He gave me no choice.” Rey swallowed. At any moment, the pirate would kill her, no matter this strange game of his. She felt no need to lie, knowing her death was imminent. “He came to my village three months ago in search of a bride. He made me an offer. I refused him.”

“Oh?”

“And then he killed my grandfather.” Rey’s voice broke and she dashed a tear away. “I had not cried since you murdered the love of my life - I cried that day, and when he threatened to have the children in the village killed, I accepted his offer for I knew that he was many things … but not a liar.”

She sank back down on the stone and twisted her hands in her lap. “I have not spoken aloud since that day. You are the first I’ve spoken to.” She laughed, bitterly. “My silence is the only shield I could carry; the only thing that could hide my pain, the pain from losing my grandfather, and the pain of losing my love.”

As distracted as she was by her grief, she didn’t see what drew the pirate’s attention; Ren and his knights galloping down the main road in their direction. Perhaps that was why he spoke so distractedly and carelessly. “Life is pain, your highness. Anyone who tells you differently is selling you something.”

Rey rose up, furious once more and nearly hissed at him in her rage. “You’ve mocked me before, and I won’t hear it again. I  _ died  _ that day.” He didn’t look over at her, so she drew back and shoved him with all her might, shouting, “And you can die too, for all I care.”

The pirate tumbled down the ravine, and Rey watched him dispassionately - until she heard his shout as he rolled towards the bottom:

“As - you - wish -”

“Oh, Poe.” She clapped her hand to her mouth, all the pieces fitting together in that moment: his knowledge of what happened on the doomed ship, his piercing brown eyes, his voice that had inspired her to respond after plenty of cruel voices had tried the same in recent months.

Without further thought, Rey threw herself down the ravine as well, trying to get to the bottom as quickly as possible. Her half-run became a stumble, and she tumbled then, hitting rocks and snagging on thorns, but all she could think about was the man she’d thought was dead for so long - the man she might have just killed anyway.

Dazed and aching, Rey lay at the bottom of the ravine, a hand on her stomach, struggling for breath.

The pirate - Poe, her love, her darling farmboy - crawled towards her, his mask gone from his tumble.

“Rey,” he gasped, “oh God, Rey, forgive me, tell me you’re alright.”

“You’re alive,” Rey said weakly, smiling though she wanted to cry in relief. He reached her and smoothed a hand down her bruised face, both of them ragged and exhausted from the fall. “If you want, I could fly.”

Poe laughed, tears in his own eyes, and smoothed his thumb over her cheekbone, much like he had on the day he left three years ago.

“It’s really you,” Rey whispered, staring up at him. “You came back.”

“I promised you I would, my sunshine,” Poe murmured. “Why did you ever doubt me?”

“Well…” Rey laughed and shook her aching head. “You were dead?”

“Not even death can stop true love. It can only delay it a little while.” Poe whispered before kissing her deeply. Rey twined her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her, and the kiss was as close to perfect as a kiss could get after four brushes with death in a single day.

They pulled apart, panting, and then they heard the horn sound, the signal of the Knights of Ren.

“He cannot find us,” Rey whispered, terrified suddenly. “He’ll make me go back, he - he could kill you-”

“I’d kill him first,” Poe snarled, “for what he did to Obi Wan.” He stroked some hair out of her face. “For what I imagine he’s done to you.”

Rey could feel her expression twist painfully, and that was enough for Poe, who glared up the ravine, a hand on his sword. 

“We’ll run,” Rey said firmly, capturing his attention with a hand on his face. Poe looked down at her, and she leaned up to kiss him. 

They pulled each other to their feet, working together, and embraced fully, Rey’s entire being overcome with joy - albeit terrified joy with their circumstances - at his proximity.

“Let’s run then,” Poe said, grabbing her hand; Rey glanced over her shoulder and saw the gathered knights staring down at them. 

Rey gathered up her skirts with one hand and held on tightly to Poe with the other; they ran as quickly as they could into the Dagobah swamp, and she didn’t look back.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading <3


End file.
